I’m headed back to India for the first time since leaving the fellowship in July 2009. It’s a very packed 2 week trip but I’m very excited to get back. I’m meeting Nick and spending 4 days with our FarShore team (I can’t wait to “wire-in” with our developers). I’ll be attending a family reunion in Udaipur and will also be in Ahmedabad to work out of Saath’s offices for a week. And finally, I get to work with Rajubhai (founder of Saath) on our new company, R3 Resources. The official description of R3 is below:

“R3 Resources is a social enterprise development firm based in Ahmedabad, India. R3 supports the creation, incubation, and scaling of ventures across all industries that serve the base of the pyramid in India. R3 operates on three key principles: first, the poor are capable and willing to pay for services; second, the BOP is a source of innovation and entrepreneurship; and third, BOP is a market of producers and consumers. The development of R3’s programs relies heavily on the ground level input of the BOP and the ventures are often managed by the community, promoting empowerment.

R3’s foundation is rooted in the Ahmedabad-based NGO, SAATH. SAATH is a pioneer in participatory and market based development, having piloted and scaled integrated development programs and livelihood initiatives across the state Gujarat. Building on two decades of experiences and relationships, community relationships and established partners, R3 is uniquely positioned to spark change in the base of the pyramid.”

The description is really formal, but we are close to launching our first company which will help explain what we aim to do on a micro-level.